The British Horseracing Board’s continued commitment to industry recruitment and training was today underlined by the staging of careersinracing, a conference designed to showcase the sport’s initiatives in attracting, training and developing talent.

The full-day event, held at Newmarket racecourse, was attended by over 180 delegates, more than twice the amount that attended the previous event staged in 2003.

Presentations were delivered by a wide range of speakers from within and outside the Racing and Breeding industries. BHB Director and Chair of the Stable and Stud Staff Steering Group Baroness Mallalieu introduced the day, while Minister for Sport, the Rt Hon Richard Caborn MP, delivered a keynote address. Other speakers included the Chief Executives of the Northern Racing College and the British Racing School, Sports Psychologist Michael Caulfield and BHB Chief Executive Greg Nichols.

The British Horseracing Education and Standards Trust outlined its successful Education Programme, while Bryan Horne, Operations Director of the Learning and Skills Council (the Government body responsible for funding and planning education and training for over 16-year-olds in England), also made a presentation.

Coinciding with today’s conference was the launch of the official website www.careersinracing.com, which will also form a new, fourth section of BHB’s website stage.britishhorseracing.com. The new site aims to help people looking to join the industry for the first time – as well as those already working in racing – that are keen to develop their careers via further training by showing the many different career paths open to them.

BHB Chief Executive Greg Nichols said: “British Racing continues to prosper and expand, which requires us to have a bigger and highly-trained workforce for the long-term. This places a responsibility on the sport to provide adequate career development and reward to ensure that the best staff are first recruited and then retained. BHB took the lead in creating a Recruitment and Training department and then set up the Stable and Stud Staff Commission and its successor Steering Group. Today’s conference represents another important step forward.”